Saturday, November 03, 2007

Progress is being made. However, it seems the state of accessibility for those needing readers or visual aids could be much enhanced if one of the major OS companies simply bought one of the big providers of accessibility software and rolled the products into the OS.

Friday, November 02, 2007

"Organized identity thieves are using porn video lures to deliver malware to Mac OS X users, confirming fears among security researchers that it’s only a matter of time before Apple’s fast-growing platform becomes a big malware target."

For those of you with a Mac that thought you were safe to surf porn using a Mac, read this!

I came across a thought provoking article at Linux.com, very early this morning. It is my intention to share those provoked thoughts with you.

Before we go to much further, here is the link that got me to thinking. (My wife says you should blame this rant on them. :))

You all know I'm a Linux user. I probably talk too much about it on the show. If you have listened closely, you also know that I do absolutely all my computing on Linux. I don't have a dual-boot system where I can sneak some task out on Windows and there is no MS based box in the corner, waiting to bail me out of some tough situation. I do absolutely everything on Linux, because I can.

Now, I'm not much of a multimedia on the computer person. I have Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash installed, though I can not remember the last time I actually sat through a Flash presentation. And on occasion I play a music CD while I am working. But that's it. I don't do the video on PC bit at all. I will start soon, as my wife and I are going to publish a few how-to videos of Native American craft techniques. We will do so in a free and open format that anyone can play, regardless of their computing platform. Plans continue, but that is all I can say has been decided, for now.

I am a Free and Open Source software (FOSS) advocate. However; I am also a pragmatist. I realize that FOSS cannot yet serve every need. In fact, because of proprietary software's ubiquity, it may never do so. One area where this is glaringly evident is multimedia. Codecs (short for "COmpressor, DECompressor, the software that actually handles the multimedia information stream) for many formats are proprietary and there are no FOSS equivalents or substitutes because these regimes are aggressively protected by their owners.)

Or, there ARE FOSS equivalents out there, but downloading and using them may violate local laws, such as The US' "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" (DMCA). There may be other laws that apply, as well.

Fedora now has "Codec Buddy" to help you get these multimedia tools. Before that there was "Easy Ubuntu" and "Automatix" for other distributions. (I'm probably missing some others, here. Please excuse the omissions.) So there is a way around it, if you must.

I, personally, stick with FOSS and don't do this sort of thing on most of my Linux installations. I'm just funny that way. Don't have anything against them, despite the apparent lawlessness in using them. I just don't have a need. There is a bunch of media playback stuff in the other room.

I've been a Blender fan for a very long time. But it has a unique interface that is difficult to learn, a fact that has held a lot of people back.

However; Blender is VERY capable software that can generate really serious animation. It's also Free, in every sense, though it started out closely held.

Now there is a book, albeit an expensive one, that will get you up to speed in Blender. The profits from the book go to the Blender people, too, so I think it is worth the price. So much so that I just ordered one based on this review.

It seems that when RockStar "took out" the adult content in Manhunt 2, all they really did was sever a few links in the code. Russian game hackers have now made that accessible. RockStar is in deep doo-doo over this one. Watch as it explodes in their faces like a grenade thrown in a game.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

It's a trojan that requires user interaction/permission to install, so a bit of wisdom on your part should be enough to protect you. Should you have less than savvy users, though, something like this might signal the need to run an anti-virus on your Mac. They ARE available and while the OS seems not to require one, the foibles of it's users might.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Here's a small article on CNet. The topic itself is huge, as you may have guessed from our discussions with Riley on the show.

I found this particularly apt at this time because I am planning a new site for my wife that will be shared with several organizations. (I can do that because their sites will be very low as far as traffic numbers are concerned.) I am fully committed to making it fully accessible to all. We will see how I do at that. It's not easy, though it is not really hard; simply adding another level of complexity and not a bad one at that.

I'm sure Riley will have some constructive criticism for me and I will solicit the same from all of you, should you feel helpful.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-28-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

If you would like to download Gregg's Links from the Gregg zone here it is for download.We are working on the bandwidth problems please bear with us.

CNET UK has a really good, yet brief, review of the Asustek Eee PC 701 mini-notebook. I want one, rather badly. It would serve all of my mobile needs, though when my wife and I are sitting in the front room, watching TV, talking to each other and surfing, I might want a machine with a larger display.

Still, with the 701 being very inexpensive, there is no case for a larger machine for me in any other regime.

Ever wonder what all the fuss over heat-pipes is? This article at Phoronix will tell you and tell you about a number of units in specific. It's the basics you're after, I'm sure, so you know how they work.

This article is a bit long, but not too bad. An entertaining read, it won't really feel like work, even with all that learning you will be doing.